Priebus formally re-elected as RNC chairman

Updated 4:40 p.m. — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After being easily re-elected to head the Republican National Committee for another term, Chairman Reince Priebus urged his party to leave behind traditional notions of which states are winnable for the party.

"At the RNC we are dropping ‘red’ and ‘blue’ analysis," he said in remarks shortly after being elected almost unanimously. "We must be a party concerned about every American in every neighborhood."

The chairman called for more outreach to minority communities, a greater focus on digital outreach and jettisoning the party's image as obstructionist.

"We will be a Republican Party that people will want to join," he said of the next presidential election. "A party that inspires again. Not a party that just says 'no'…but a party that says “follow us to a brighter future.”

For Priebus, that future could include an embrace of the plans of some GOP-led state legislatures who hope to reapportion their electoral votes by congressional district rather than the winner-take-all system currently espoused by almost all the states.

"I think it's a state issue but personally I'm pretty intrigued by it," Priebus told reporters after his election.

The idea of changing the electoral vote apportionment — which would reflect the concentrated political sensitivities of carefully drawn congressional districts — has prompted outcry from Democrats who accuse the GOP of changing the rules of a game they proved unable to win in 2008 and 2012.

And not all Republicans are crazy about the idea.

In a statement, a spokesman for Republican VIrginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said he doesn't back the legislation. "He believes Virginia's existing system works just fine as it is. He does not believe there is any need for a change," said McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin.

Priebus disputed the notion that a reapportionment would run counter to the idea that Republicans should compete in "every neighborhood."

"It's a state issue," he said. "State legislatures decide it, governors decide it, but as far as our presence in those states — you still have to compete"